Saturday, February 11, 2012

Free food, free goals, fun Friday

Friday night had a lot of everything for everybody from the New York Ranger and New York Islander prospects. We had some pretty good performances from the prospects and this was one of the better evenings we have seen in a while.

Rangers First Star Chris Kreider

There is something about Beanpot week that brings out the very best in Chris Kreider's (NYR  2009 1st) game. Kreider earned first star of the game honors after a 2-1-3 performance leading 4th-ranked Boston College to a 6-1 win over the Vermont Catamounts.

Kreider after bit of a slump is starting to heat up as he has now gone 4-4-8 in his last four games which is great news for Boston College and it could be bad news for the rest of Hockey East. For a recap of Kreider's performance and the rest of what was a pretty good evening for the Ranger prospects check out the Ranger page right here.

Islanders First Star Scott Mayfield


Scott Mayfield (NYI 2011 2nd) makes his first appearance here and it was only because he made a single play. If you look in the scoresheet you'll see just one assist and a -1 for Mayfield but it was a play that said a lot about the forward progress Mayfield has made it his freshman season.

Mayfield set up Jason Zucker's power-play goal at 4:02 of the 2nd period turned out to be the game-winning goal as Mayfield's 14th-ranked Denver Pioneers defeated top-ranked Minnesota 5-3. It was just Mayfield's 5th assist of the season and 7th overall point but it was a key point in a game against the team that has been ranked number one for quite a while.

For us what we liked most about that play wasn't the play itself but what it represented and that is Mayfield's growth as a prospect. It wasn't that long ago when the 6'4 freshman defenseman was showing the growing pains of a 18-year-old teenager trying to play against 22-23 adults.

Mayfield has come a long way since the start of the season and we really do like what we are seeing out of him these days. While others have better numbers than Mayfield does, it is his growth as a player that stands out tonight.

For more about Mayfield and the rest of the Islander prospect report you can find it right here.

An Interesting Ruling


We are sure that as hockey fans you have been told repeatedly how every point counts but we have one where two points might be a serious difference maker on how QMJHL playoffs are seeded.

In a ruling regarding a game that took place on January 4 between the two teams the Commissioner of the QMJHL ruled that the Gatineau Olympiques would be awarded two points and two points would be taken away from the Saint John Sea Dogs.

What this now means is that instead of having a two-point lead over the Shawinigan Cataractes; the Sea Dogs now find themselves tied for points with the Cataractes. Currently the Sea Dogs because they have more wins remain in first place over the Cataractes but as tightly contested as this race has been we wonder what will happen if the playoffs seeding has decided because of this ruling.

(Kreider and Mayfield - NHL media)



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